


Needing Each Other

by queerhazeleyes



Category: Vikings (TV)
Genre: Gen, Missing Scene, Shaving
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-08
Updated: 2015-03-08
Packaged: 2018-03-16 21:13:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3502979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queerhazeleyes/pseuds/queerhazeleyes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Athelstan looked uneasily at Lagertha. She had sent the children out to finish their chores after catching him attempting to shave his tonsure. He wasn’t sure what to expect from his mistress, but he had a feeling some kind of punishment was in store.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Needing Each Other

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by my rewatch right before Season 3 started up. I noticed that later in the episode after Athelstan failed to shave his tonsure alone, it's shaved clean. Now, that's probably just a continuity error from how it was edited together, but I choose to believe that someone had to have helped him. Plus, as much as I adore Ragnar and Athelstan's dynamic, I wanted to show a moment between Athelstan and Lagertha for once.

“This is important to you.”

Athelstan looked uneasily at Lagertha. She had sent the children out to finish their chores after catching him attempting to shave his tonsure. He wasn’t sure what to expect from his mistress, but he had a feeling some kind of punishment was in store.

“It marks me out as a monk,” he replied. “I hadn’t realized how much it had grown in. I…found it troubling.” It had frightened him. His hair was something that physically separated him and his brother monks from these pagans, and the thought of losing that distinction terrified him. 

“It shows your devotion to your god, then?” she asked. Athelstan bowed his head. His eyes fell on the knife he had taken, which lay on the table between them. Lagertha’s gaze never strayed to it, and he had no doubt she didn’t consider it—or him—even the slightest threat.

“Yes.”

“Then we will need a sharper knife.” Athelstan jerked back in shock, meeting her eyes for the first time since she’d sent the children away. Lagertha merely raised an eyebrow at him. “You were having trouble alone. As it means so much to you, I will help, if you like.” She waited for his reply.

“I—thank you,” he finally answered. She stood with a small, pleased smile, the kind he had only seen directed at Ragnar, and felt he’d given the right answer. She crossed the room and pulled out a blade that gleamed wickedly sharp. With that in hand she returned to stand behind Athelstan.

“Just this area, yes?” she asked, tracing a finger along the edge where his hair was still shorn.

“Yes.” His breath was quick and shallow as she began, carefully scraping hair from his scalp. IT was an entirely different sensation than when his brothers had done the same at Lindisfarne, and he found himself increasingly aware of her presence at his back and her nimble fingers carding through his hair. 

After what felt both like eternity and no time at all, she released him and stepped away. “There,” she said.

Athelstan reached up to inspect her handiwork with fingertips and found a perfectly round patch of skin shaved smooth. His racing heart eased. “Thank you,” he said again.

“Of course,” Lagertha replied, returning the knife to its place.

“You’ve done that before?” he asked when she didn’t seem inclined to hurry on with her tasks.

“Many times,” she said. “Shaving one’s head is difficult. I often help Ragnar with his.”

Athelstan didn’t have a response for that, but Lagertha didn’t seem to require one. She just smiled at him again and left the cottage, brushing her hand across her shoulder as she passed.

The sensation of her touch lingered as Athelstan went about his work that day. After dinner when they retired to their beds, he recited the Hail Mary until he managed to block out the memory of her hands on him, and how his skin still tingled in response.


End file.
